The future I'll never have
by snowstorm0422
Summary: Hydra strikes again, stronger than ever, and using one of their most powerful weapons: the future. Only the Avengers can stop them, but after the Civil War, they're separated and it is definitely not their bes time. They will have some help though. How will they manage to stop Hydra while they have to hide from the government? Read and find out.
1. Chapter 1

"Shit. This lock is garbage"

"You're doing it wrong, man. You have to push gently, this way you wouldn't even open your own door".

"If you're that intelligent, why am I the one who's doing it and not you?"

"Oh, god, this is stupid. It'd be easier to break the door down"

"Which part did you miss when they told us to go _unnoticed_?"

Two voices argued in the silence of the night, in a quiet neighborhood from a small city. It was one of those cities where nothing really happened and which didn't make headlines very often.

The two voices were from John and Murphy, two guys who were in their middle twenties and were not very smart. That night, they had a mission and they were going to be well paid for it, so they decided they couldn't let this chance go. As far as they knew, they had to break in that appartment and surprise the owner when she arrived a few hours later, so they could take her to the location they'd been given. Their mysterious employer had asked for secrecy and cleanliness, so they had managed to get their best materials to do it, such as a tatty homemade black balaclava for each one of them.

About their employer, they didn't know much about him. A man in a suit contactednthem and offered a big amount of money for this job, and that was everything they needed to know about it. If they had been a little more intelligent, they would've noticed that man was only the tip of the iceberg and that they were being asked to kidnap someone.

"Good riddance! I thought we wouldn't be able to get in" Murphy said, finally opening the door.

The two friends entered the appartment, which was completely normal. Nobody was home, as they expected. The first thing they saw was the little kitchen and the dining room.

"So… What do we do now?" John asked.

"I don't know… We wait. The man said she would be home by midnight" Murphy answered. It was obvious that they didn't have much experience in breaking into houses. "Meanwhile, we could give this beautiful and big fridge a good use. I bet it's way fuller than mine"

"Don't be stupid! Don't touch anything." John asked his friend. He didn't know much about secret missions, but he did know they couldn't leave anything that the pólice could use to track them.

But by the time he finished the sentence, Murphy was already drinking a beer from the fridge.

"Who do you think this girl is? Why would that man want to find her?" Murphy said as he took another sip from the beer.

* * *

Somewhere else in that little town, specificly in the hospital, Aria was changing her clothes to leave, as every night when she finished her shift.

"Have you checked on the patient I told you?" she heard the voice of her resident behind her, a thirty year old man who she would describe as a 'not-so-cool teacher'.As always, he was trying to find a task in order to make her miss some more sleeping hours.

"Yep" Aria answered. She had everything under control.

"Well, then I'll see you tomorrow, Aria" that was the closest thing to 'good job' that he would ever tell her.

The night was very dark when she walked the streets back home. She couldn't believe this was her last month being an intern at the hospital. It seemed like only yesterday she'd left her hometown and started college, and now she didn't even know how to feel.

Her appartment awaited her, lonely as always. She lived with another two students, but they had very different lifestyles from her, so the place was all hers at nights, something she really loved.

But that night, there was something different there. The littlest details rarely escaped her eye.

The lock had lost its black color, as if someone had just pulled it out. Besides, when she came in, her own appartment felt strange to her. She observed that the fridge wasn't completely closed so the water drops falling from it were starting to create a little puddle in the floor. She knew her friends would never leave that door open or their bill would climb up to the sky.

She knew she was not alone.

* * *

A few miles far from that place, at the very same moment, a motorbike driven by Steve Rogers was headed to the same appartment.

"How are you doing, Captain?" his friend Sam Wilson asked through the earpiece.

"Just a few minutes left" they both knew that he didn't have much time

"I still think it would have been easier to do it my way."

"It's too risky, Sam. We're not legal anymore, remember?"

Steve turned right following the GPS. He was almost there, but still maybe it would be too late when he arrived, so he accelerated.

"The Black Widow sent us this information for a reason. This has to be something big" Sam kept talking.

"Zola's algorithm isn't big enough for you?"

"If it was only that, why didn't she send it to Ross so he could ask the _official Avengers_ to do something? Instead, she sent it to the _fugitive Avengers_ , and here we are, going undercover as if we were criminals."

Steve didn't answer his friend's question, but the knew he had a point. Anyway, there was no time to think about that now that he was outside the building.

"Nat's always one step ahead of us in these things, Sam. We must trust her" he finally said.

"Yeah, you're right. Second floor, door B. And you better hurry, as far as we know she may be a damsel in distress. Those guys could be hurting her so bad just now"

"You're not helping, Sam"

Steve parked and caught his shield, carefully hidden in a compartment of the motorbike. He was working undercover that night, so if anyone had seen him driving, he would've thought he was a normal man, because he wasn't wearing his suit. He started climbing the fire scape.

This situation started when Clint received some encrypted archives a few hours ago, from the Black Widow, and he had contacted Steve. Ever since what happened between Tony Stark and the Captain, something the media liked to call "the Civil War", no one had seen Natasha Romanoff. The Avengers were separated because of Secretary Ross' initiative, which would make them work for the government, and the Black Widow betrayed her own team, so she wasn't expected to show up, but she wouldn't join the _fugitive Avengers_ either, so she remained hidden. That was something she was very good at.

Thanks to those files, Captain's team learned that Hydra was rising from the ashes and using an old ally: Zola's algorithm. It determined which people would mean any danger to Hydra in the future, and two years ago they tried to eliminate all of them.

But Captain America was there to save the world once again, and he wasn't very comfortable with the idea of facing the algorithm again. Why would Hydra use it again when it failed? It wasn't much like them.

And the Black Widow had decided to send the files to Clint instead of Tony, so there had to be something bigger beneath it.

Steve opened the emergency door with a kick and did the same with the front door of the appartment. He was hoping to find a helpless young lady asking for mercy, but what he found he couldn't believe.

"Who sent you?" the girl who they assumed to be a damsel in disstres had tied hand and feet her attackers, and she was interrogating them.

When she realized she had more company, she turned.

"Who the hell are you?" she said when she saw the tall and strong man, wearing jeans and a sweater, standing astonished.

"Ah…" Steve was speechless.

"I'm warning you, even though you're much stronger than these puny little men, you can try me if you want" She said, raising her fists.

"Dude, I can't believe what I'm listening to" Sam said through the earpiece. "Steve! Do something before you have more visitors"

"My name is Steve Rogers, but you may know me as Captain America" he introduced himself, babbling, and showed her his shield.

She recognised it.

"And what are you doing here?"

"We received a report that Hydra was to send someone to get you, and… I came here to avoid it."

"Hydra, huh? Are you minions of that scum?" she asked her prisoners.

"I don't think they know about Hydra. They usually contact with this kind of people to get their dirty work done. You know about them?"

"Yeah. I like to know what to expect out there, and the Black Widow made all the Hydra and S.H.I.E.L.D. archives public two years ago, so it was all over the news. But they said Hydra was dead".

"Well, I've been fighting them for over 70 years. I've stopped believing that's possible." Steve said.

They stared at each other for a second. It was obvious the ambient didn't exude confidence.

"And what now? I have to go with you, right?

"That'd be the best option you have, These guys won't be your last visitors if you don't." He pointed the two young men who were still tied and silent in the floor. "But, why me? I'm no one." She asked, showing a little anxiety for the first time.

"Probably it's because who you will become in the future. Come with me and I'll tell you everything you need to know. I'll protect you, Aria" Steve said, and offered her his hand. He could see now that beneath her tough girl armour there was a scared young lady. She took a step towards him.

"Steve, we have a problem. Someone or something is getting close to you" Sam said. Besides keeping this mission secret and undercover, Sam was on the roof of a building nearby as the Falcon, in case he needed to take part of the fight.

"Who?"

"I don't…." The audio was cut.

"What's happening?" Aria asked.

Steve prepared himself for whatever was coming and put her behind him.

"It seems this is going to be a busy night for the two of us"

* * *

 **Hi guys! New story! As you have seen, it takes place after Civil War, so if you haven't seen it go see it now because it's awesome hahah. English is not my native language so you may see some mistakes, let me know if you want.**

 **and... if you liked the chapter let me know too, i'd love it! I'll publish again as soon as I can**


	2. Chapter 2

**Hey there, the second chapter is already here! I hope you like it, and once more i apologize for the possible gramatical mistakes. Let me know if you like it!**

* * *

"Vision?" Steve couldn't believe what he was seeing. There was his ex-teammate, as radiant as always. He'd entered the appartment through the wall, as he liked to do, and Steve knew he'd have to hear a wise and calculated speech now. "Seriosly, I can't believe you're here"

The situation that the Vision was witnessing wasn't very normal, either: the two guys that had broken into Aria's appartment were still tied up on the floor, more astonished every time someone new emerged on the scene. Steve kept the shield up, not knowing what to expect.

"You're not going to need that, Steve" Jarvis' vessel said. "I'm still a friend."

But Steve knew that condescension of his was just protocole, and if he was there it was because he had a motive.

Aria remained behind him, tightly holding his arm. That had definetly been a busy night for her ever since she left the hospital.

"What does Tony want now?" Steve asked the Vision. He knew Stark enough to know he used the android to do his errands.

"Mr. Stark has asked me to invite you to come with me." he said with his almost-metal voice.

Steve pouted.

"You needn't try to make his words sound polite. Do we have any chance to refuse that offer?"

"I'm afraid you don't. It is a matter of great urgency."

"Is anyone else going to try to kidnap me tonight?" Aria said, still behind Steve, unable to understand the whole situation.

The Vision addressed her for the first time, more softly.

"Miss, I am sorry this has to be done so hastily, but I assure you that Mr. Stark wants you to be as safe as possible."

Steve grimaced, tired of the Vision's condenscension. As the android talked, he calculated the trajectory and the strenght that he would have to throw his shield with to hit him and let them have a little chance to escape. However, almost every part of him knew there was nothing to do against the Vision.

"I think too many people have tried to decide for this girl tonight." Steve said, just before throwing his shield as hard as he was capable of against the Vision.

The shield distracted the android for a second and he had to move back, but he stopped it firing the powerful laser from his forehead, and then he grabbed the shield. Steve wasn't even dissapointed after his failed attack: it reminded him of their old times fighting together, and how he was created to be a defender of humanity.

Sam got in through the door at that moment, dressed as the Falcon.

"Dude, I came as soon as I could. I don't know what the hell…" and he stopped talking the moment he saw the Vision carrying Steve's shield. "Ok, we are in trouble."

"Two police cars are approaching. Someone must have seen you." The Vision said looking at Sam. "Your only chance to leave this building without being arrested is with me, and you're all invited to come."

Steve and Sam stared at each other without doubting about what they had to do. Visiting Stark was far better than giving secretary Ross more reasons to throw them in jail, no matter how uncomfortable the idea of seeing Tony for the first time after the Civil War made them feel.

"Ok, let's go" Steve said. Aria had no choice but to follow these strange three characters, without saying a word. She had too much to process for one night.

* * *

A few hours earlier, in a very far place from that little city, a black shape moved fast and undetectable thanks to the darkness of the atmosphere. In front of her, a huge building stood: Hydra's secret base of operations in New York. In anyone else's eyes, it just looked like a normal building on the outskirts of the city, nor very high neither despicable, just average. But the Black Widow knew well that things are not always what they seem.

She waited behind a column of the entrance for the guard who watched the front door -at first sight just a common night watchman- to have a little but fatal distraction. That was her style. She could see the movement you were going to make before you'd even thought of it and she'd have knocked you down by the time you had decided to make it. There was no one better than her to do that job.

She'd found about Hydra's plans just a few days ago thanks to her resources and when she saw what was going on, she decided to call Tony Stark, despite the differences they'd had over the past months. She knew she would have to put the team back together, so Stark was the perfect point of start.

She visited him in his new mansion and took the files with her, and they soon started to think about a plan. So far, they only had a little information on the situation, including a list of twenty-three names related to Zola's algorithm, which meant Hydra would be hunting those people down. Unfortunatelly, there were too many names for the two of them, and they both agreed to not comunicating this to secretary Ross, in fear of the kind of approach the politician would make. He would probably shut them down, leaving them with no choice but sit and watch how people disappeared. And that wasn't happening. She remembered the conversation they had had about it.

"Tony, I think we're gonna need help" Natasha had said when she assumed the magnitude of the issue.

"Are we sure this is as big as we think, Natasha?" Tony had asked her, swirling around his brand new living room.

"Sir, I've researched on what you've asked me. Do you want to see the results?" Friday's artificial voice had said, Tony's most faithfull ally ever since Jarvis became the Vision.

"Sure."

"Out of the tweenty-three names included in the list you gave me, there's only one person who is not missing yet. Her name is Aria Harris. Police reports on all the missing cases claim that no one has seen them or knows anything about them."

Tony and Natasha had stopped breathing for a second. Yes, they needed help, and no, they didn't have time.

"We have to call the Captain" Tony had said, something he believed he'd never have to say in his right mind.

"We have to do a lot more than that, Tony." Natasha said, visibly worried. Tony had let himself fall into the couch, rubbing his chin, exhausted.

"We need the origin. Hydra is one step ahead of us, Hydra is in the future. Without that algorithm we could spend a lifefime chasing clues and being late as millions of people are wiped off the map."

"You're right. We have to get it." Natasha had said. "This will be the first of many tragedies that we won't be able to stop."

They had stared at each other, knowing what to do.

"I'll do it. I only have to find out where it's hidden. I'll go alone in order not to arouse suspicions."

"Can you do it on your own?" Tony had asked. He wouldn't have doubt of her if it wasn't a complicated situation.

"Who do you think you're talking to?" she had smirked. Tony had smiled.

"Friday, send these archives and the name of the remaining girl to Clint. Use Natasha's e-mail and make him know we have no time to lose."

And there she was, a mere 12 hours after her meeting with Stark, about to get the algorithm. She had discovered it was contained in one of the computers in the building. She looked again at the front door. The guard was staring at his shoes, distracted, which was very normal considering that he had been guarding the door for a long time and the most interesting thing that had came near had been a raven. But that was the moment she was waiting for. Before the guard could even realize she was there, she had already knocked him out.

The inside of the building was surprisingly empty. What kind of criminal organisation would leave something as important as Zola's algorithm unprotected? There was something wrong with the building, and she started thinking she had fallen into a trap, but then she followed her instinct and found her way to the control room thanks to a hidden elevator. A normal person would never have figured it out, but her senses were always above average. While she decoded the password of the main computer, her spy instinct kept telling her it'd all been too easy, but she tried to not listen. And she found it: the Zola's algorithm archive. She opened it but only found a bunch of mathematical operations and symbols that maybe Friday would be able to decode.

"Goddammit, how many deaths would this thing cause if we didn't stop it?" she didn't need an answer. Thousands, millions of innocent people dying just because they threat Hydra's plans, which probably means they'd do good things for the world.

She didn't waste a single minute and copied the archive. As soon as it was done, she prepared to leave.

But she would never make it to the meeting she had with Tony a few hours later.

* * *

The Vision took his _guests_ to Tony Stark's new mansión, where he was expecting them. Aria was still too shocked to realize what was going on that she could only admire the beautiful house. Just the hall was bigger than any of the houses that she had lived in, and the furniture was exquisit.

"Welcome to my new house" Tony said. He had appeared out of nowhere and stood behind them with his typical almost-arrogant pose.

They all turned and Steve rolled his eyes. So Tony.

"I decided to move because the former Avengers complex gave me, you know, just bad feelings, now we're not the Avengers anymore." He continued. The tension was all over the room.

"You are still the Avengers. We're just wanted criminals." Steve said. "Tell me, how does it feel to know that people are dying and you're doing nothing to avoid it?"

"Steve…" Sam tried to make him stop. No good could come out of a fight between Ironman and Captain America at that moment.

"Who the hell do you think I am, you star-spangled fossil? You tell me: how does it feel to help Hydra's most dangerous assasin over the past decades even when you know he was the one who murdered…?

"That's enough. The two of you must stop." The Vision said, forceful, interrupting his creator. "There's no point in arguing about something neither of you can change."

Tony snorted and calmed down.

"How did you know we were going to rescue her tonight? You were tracking us?" Steve asked.

"I wasn't tracking you" Tony sighed. "I didn't have to. Natasha contacted me first when she found the archives, and then we decided to… ask for your help" Tony reluctantly said, It was still difficult for him to say that. "We both agreed we're gonna need all the help we can get. And that, unfortunatelly, includes you and your flying pet"

Sam said nothing, but didn't like that nickname.

"And you are…" Tony spoke to Aria, realizing she was there for the first time. "Oh, yes, the last name on the list. Lucky we got you on time, right? Maybe you'd be Hydra's puree by now if we hadn't" he laughed, but Aria didn't find it funny at all. She would've complained, but she felt she didn't fit in there between those men with so many unsolved business.

"Can we focus? Why are we here?" Steve asked.

"Okey, you're here because we were going to figure out how to fix this when Natasha came back with the algorithm, maybe you'd come up with a plan of attack, and we'd do this like in the good old days… but we have another problem."

"Natasha hasn't made it back." Steve pointed.

"Very sharp, Capi. That's what I like about you. I'm afraid we have to go there and get Natasha and the algorithm ourselves. Vision, stay here with our new friend and make sure nobody gets in… or out" he looked at her.

"Ok, let's do it, But please, Tony, save your jokes for yourself. There's no need to ruin this beautiful night with your cheap-comedy-show humor." The Falcon said, fighting back. He wasn't comfortable with people making fun of him.

"That hurt, hummingbird, foul play." Tony sorrowfully grabbed his chest.

As soon as they were ready, they left the place in order to rescue the Black Widow and get the algorithm. The Vision and Aria were alone now in the big house, and there was an awkward silence that the android broke a few seconds later.

"May I offer you something to eat? Or do you want to sleep?"

She stared at him, as if the whole night was just a joke.

"I'm fine, thanks" she managed to say. She couldn't even imagine how much her life was going to change from that night on. Superheroes, walking-and-talking androids, criminal organisations after her, an algorithm which predicts the future, unsolved tensions between everybody. And there she was, in the middle of everything. Those men had apparently risked so much to protect her. She couldn't move a single muscle, her mind just kept trying to predict what was going to happen now: maybe it wasn't safe anymore to work at the hospital, or even live at her old appartment. She just couldn't process all the information and started to feel dizzy.

"You're not much of a talker, are you?" The Vision said, but she could barely hear him."I'm detecting a rapid pulse and sweating. If you don't mind, I'm going to take you to a bed where you can rest."

She didn't physically resist, her body wouldn't respond.

"Collapsing is not strange in a situation like this one. You will be fine tomorrow" The Vision kept talking as he gently pushed her to one of the bedrooms. Her brain turned itself off the moment she laid down.

"Are they arriving yet?" a dark and deep voice asked on the telephone.

"Yes, sir." A man answered.

"Is _the beast_ ready?"

"Of course. I'll release it as soon as they get here"

"Fantastic"

The man who was in the room with the Black Widow was probably just a minion. And it was the big chief on the phone seconds ago. She couldn't see much from where she was tied up, but she heard that conversation perfectly, so they must have wanted her to hear it. She froze when she understood what they were talking about. Her friends were coming to rescue her. And they were headed directly into the trap. Whatever _the beast_ was, it didn't sound good, and she wouldn't forgive herself if they were hurt because of her.

But then, a door opened behind her, and she could hear the heavy steps of what she thought to be the Beast.


	3. Chapter 3

**Hey! I'm back! Sorry for the long wait guys, I hope you like this chapter.**

* * *

"What's the plan?" Tony asked. He was wearing his suit, and he and his ex-teammates were to rescue the Black Widow.

"We get in and we get her" Steve answered, dressed as Captain America.

"Wow, I was hoping a more complex plan coming from you, Cap"

"It's kind of difficult to come up with a plan when you're the last one to find out about what's going on"

"Stop your childish bullshit, you two!" Sam yelled at them. "We'd better get going. I've checked the whole building and there isn't a single guard. It almost looks like…"

"A trap" Steve finished.

"I have to admit that you've worked with your confidence ever since I last saw you What's the trick, _nightingale_?" Tony asked the Falcon.

"Oh, come on. And yes, Steve, you're right. They must be waiting for us" Sam replied.

"We'll have to give them what they're waiting for." Steve finally said.

They quickly entered the building. The hall was empty, as if it had been abandoned.

"Friday hacked the system and she got the plans of this shitty building. Shame on the petty architect who built it." Tony said as he memorized the whole building structure. There were only ten floors, all of them with many offices and nothing special, but the last one had a bigger office, so he figured out they'd find the algorithm and their friend there.

"The floor's clear" Steve said, right after finishing the routine check-out.

"We have to get to the tenth floor. I suggest the _pigeon_ and I fly up there and surprise the hell out of them and you take the stairs, Cap. You're the fittest one here, anyway."

Everyone ignored the mockery and stuck to the new plan, but the moment Steve opened the door to the staircase, a very loud siren started to sound.

"What the hell, Steve?" Sam asked through the earpiece. The siren was audible from outside too.

"I didn't do anything." Steve answered, confused.

"Everyone keep calm and stick to the plan." Tony said, not joking for the first time.

It took Steve less than one minute to climb all the stairs, and he waited.

"Do you see it, _Tin man_?" Sam asked Tony through their communication system.

"Yes."

"What? What do you see?" Steve asked from the other side of the door.

"We can't see anything. They shut down the whole floor. Let's be prepared for the worst." Tony said before abruptly entering the building through a window. Sam and Steve followed and all they found was darkness. "Lights". Tony ordered Friday, and she activated his night vision.

The siren kept ringing over and over again, very annoyingly, but there was another slight and continuous noise: a rapid breathing.

"This is like a freaking horror movie." Sam said, but Steve immediately told him to shut up. He was hearing the noises too.

As their eyes got used to the darkness, Tony searched for the origin of the breaths, and he finally could see a figure, what he assumed to be Natasha tied up in a chair.

"Guys, come here" The others followed his voice easily because the floor was almost empty and there wasn't anything to run into.

They got to Natasha and Tony removed the tape from her mouth. She gasped loudly and he untied her.

"Are you okay?"

Natasha couldn't catch her breath completely, but she managed to say one single word: "Beast…" almost like a sigh.

With their eyes almost used to the darkness, the three men stared at each other, but one of the walls exploded before they could say anything, and then something roared so loud they had to cover their ears.

Steve got up and put his shield up, and so did Sam. Tony, still with the night vision on, saw a gigantic dark shape coming right at them.

"Banner?" Tony said before dodging a punch from the _thing._

"That's no Hulk." Natasha said as she got up, now untied. "It's one of Hydra's failed projects. They call it the Beast."

"I can't see the failure here" Sam said before dodging another punch. The thing was obviously angry.

"We can't fight if we're blind. Everybody turn his night vision on" Steve said. Luckily, Tony had installed it to his helmet some time ago. Natasha didn't have it, but she was completely used to the dark after spending a few hours there.

But the Beast had apparently disappeared and the only thing they could hear was that stupid siren.

And Steve knew why.

"That's why there isn't anyone here. This is an _evacuation_ siren. I bet they're about to blow…" he couldn't finish the phrase. The Beast grabbed his leg and strongly threw him against the wall.

He moaned but quickly got up. He'd had worse injuries.

"Sir, I have detected a bomb in the ninth floor of the building. It's programmed to explode within sixty seconds from now. It has enough power to take the whole building down, so I suggest leaving right now." Friday told Tony.

"Cap's right. That thing is trying to hold us back. We have to get the hell out of here."

But then, the Beast grabbed Sam. It wasn't willing to let them go easily. Tony fired three missiles from his arm and they hit the thing, illuminating it for a moment. They could see its Hulky-shaped black body, covered with big black blisters which looked like tumors.

"Shit, this thing is disgusting." Tony said, and it seemed to hear and understand it as it turned to him and caught him between its arms. Then the others saw how the Beast smashed the Ironman against the floor and then seated on him, and they could do nothing.

"The system is being severely damaged by an external force." Friday said, and Tony saw the lights blinking and could feel the weight of the thing on him.

"I can feel it." He hardly said. "Activate the emergency exit protocol. Now."

"With this great amount of weight on, I can't ensure it will work." Friday answered.

Then Tony felt a huge pressure relief. Sam had shot the thing, distracting it for a second, which allowed Tony to escape. But it was barely wounded. Normal bullets couldn't even scratch its skin.

"Sir, you only have ten seconds left." Friday reminded.

"Everyone get out! Natasha, hold yourself to Tony as strong as you can!" Steve yelled as he took a very powerful grenade he kept for situations like this one out of one of his pockets.

"Don't be a hero, Cap. I'm not done pissing you off yet." Tony said just before Steve threw the grenade against the Beast. He jumped as far as he could through one of the windows, breaking the glass and so did the others, just a moment before the two bombs exploded.

Steve opened his parachute and slowly went down. He didn't know if the Beast was dead, but it had to be very injured by now if it wasn't.

"Nice job, guys. Just like the old times" Natasha said eventually, staring at the USB which contained Zola's algorithm.

* * *

"Sir, you have a phone call." The voice of a young woman said.

"Tell them I know. I know they have the algorithm. I actually knew it was going to be this way. It's always like this with the Avengers, isn't it?" the dark voice said. "They always get away with the messes they create. And no one blames them if they have to kill thousands of people in order to contribute to the greater good." He carefully pronounced each word. "The world would see them as the rogues they are if they didn't wear their sparkling and brand-new suits." He made a pause. "But I guarantee you that their time is coming… Sooner than what they expect". He concluded, smashing his fist on the table, where he had hundreds of newspapers and archives about the Avengers.

* * *

Aria woke up back at the mansion almost twelve hours later, and she was so disoriented she believed for a moment she was having one of the worst hangovers of her life.

But then, she remembered all the weird stuff that had happened the night before and that she was actually at multimillionaire Tony Stark's house. She got up to see her bedroom, which she assumed to be meant for guests but was almost bigger than her whole apartment, anyway. Someone had carefully placed fresh clothes in a chair for her, and she couldn't be more grateful. Even though she had no clue about what was going to happen next, she felt an invisible force pushing her to explore the mansion and find out for herself.

When she got out of the room, she heard moans coming from somewhere in the majestic house. The lights of the new day perfectly fitted the white wallpaper.

She found the source of the sounds in another room. They came from Steve's mouth, the guy who had tried to rescue her the night before. Sam –the other man who broke in her apartment claiming they were in trouble- was carelessly removing some glasses from his back. With no anesthesia, or gloves. Not even disinfectant. That was too much for Aria, or for any other soon-to-be doctor medical student.

"What the hell are you doing? You're gonna kill him!" She yelled at Sam.

"Relax. I've been through worse." Steve said. "Just a tough window."

She examined his back. The injuries were not very deep, but the pieces of glass were still embedded. It looked painful.

"How did you get this?" She asked.

"Saving the world once more."

"I see modesty is not your thing…" she said. Steve laughed.

"It's not that. You have to look on the bright side, the cup being half full…" he joked. "Now please, if you don't mind, Sam here is trying to fix my messy back."

"I'm a medical student, I can help. And I can certainly do better than that." She pointed at some really bad looking wounds.

"His cells are like, very impossible to kill, right? He'll be fine." Sam said, not liking anyone who questioned his abilities.

"It's okay, Sam. I think I will be in better hands now." Steve answered.

"Ok, I… I'll just go take care of some business" he said before leaving.

She went back to her room and took her backpack –where she miraculously had gloves and Betadine-, and started applying it carefully to his back. Which was very strong, but it didn't matter. She had been taught to give equal treatment to anyone, and this super strong superhero wasn't an exception.

"You always have those things with you?" Steve asked. He didn't notice she had already begun extracting the glasses more precisely and painlessly.

"I told you I like being prepared. I'm sure all of my classmates have these stuff with them too. You never know when you're gonna need it."

She continued curing him, and wondered. "So… What happens now? What do I have to do?"

He looked at her in the eye and saw a scared girl trying to hide it.

"You have to stay alive. You are in that list for a reason, and someday you'll prove yourself worthy of whatever takes to protect you." He said.

She was breathless for a moment.

"I think you just have great expectations of me." She concluded. Steve laughed.

"We'll have to wait and see".

* * *

Tony had Friday working on the algorithm Natasha had obtained. Decrypting it would take a few more hours, but it would be worth the wait. Meanwhile he had slept a little, but Natasha wasn't able to sleep. Tony caught her hacking one of his systems.

"You never change, do you?" he asked. She quickly closed the laptop, but he had enough time to see what she was looking for. "Still haven't heard from him?"

Natasha was really worried for Bruce Banner. She had unsuccessfully tried to track him, but he didn't want to be found.

"It looks like he's gone for good." She said, her eyes bright. She missed him but the feeling turned to concern as days went by.

"The big guy will be here when we need him, so it's actually a good sign that he hasn't showed up." Tony said, sitting next to her. She knew he was right. "Why don't you try to catch some sleep? You look awful."

Natasha looked him in the eye, visibly concerned.

"There's something else." She said, and Tony frowned. "There has to be something wrong with the algorithm. It doesn't make sense it was _that easy_ to get it."

"I don't agree with you on that." Tony said, remembering the tons he had on him last night, sorrowfully grabbing his chest.

"I'm just saying we shouldn't take victory for granted this time." She concluded, got up and took her jacket.

"You're leaving, right?" Tony already knew the answer.

"Of course I am. I have my own issues to take care of." She said, right before leaving the mansion.


	4. Chapter 4

"You said you were retiring." Laura, Clint's wife, said. She was holding little Nathaniel, their son, who had started crying, as she watched his husband get his Hawkeye stuff and get ready to leave once again.

"I know, but this is the last…" he said.

"This is the last time, yeah. You told me that before, and the next thing I know is that you're leaving to end a stupid fight between your friends and you're missing for a month! How am I supposed to deal with that?" she was furious and scared. Clint stared at his wife and son.

"I'm sorry, Laura, but I had to do it last time and I have to do it now. We've talked about this" He said, grabbing her cheeks. "I have a responsability, I'm part of a team, something bigger than me."

"It seems it's also bigger than your family." She said, a tear running through her dissapointed face.

"I never said that" Clint sighed and made a puase while his wife stared at him. "I'll be back as soon as this is over. This time it's serious, if I don't help them, all of you may be in danger. I could never forgive myself if something happened to you." He looked her in the eye, begging for her approval, or at least a soothing look.

"I'm tired of this, Clint. I'm moving with the kids to my mum's house until you're back."

"This house is safer and you know it." Clint said.

"Yes, but it's lonely. The kids are constantly asking how long you'll be out. I need some time to think." Laura said.

"There's nothing to think about…"

"Just be safe." She said, kissing her husband's cheek and taking little Nathaniel with her.

Clint stared at the empty bedroom as he thought of quitting for real, but he knew his friends were going to need them, specially fighting against a weapon as powerful as Zola's algorithm. He new for sure that he was considered dangerous by Hydra, but he was more concerned about his family being considered it too.

He pulled all these thoughts away and finished packing his stuff.

This happened right after he received Natasha's information. He was heading to Tony's new mansion but wans't very excited about seeing his ex-teammate againg, knowing he had spent a few weeks in a submarine prison thanks to him and his willingness to sign the Sokovia accords. But wether he liked it or not, they'd have to work together this time.

* * *

One day later, back at the Stark's mansion, things felt quite peaceful. Aria had only spent almost a day there and she already loved the place, mostly thanks to the Vision. Natasha, the Falcon and Steve had left earlier that day to do their 'superhero stuff' she supposed, and she found herself alone in that big house. She believed Tony Stark was somewhere in the mansion, but she wouldn't notice him. After hours of wandering she realized she was very very bored. Maybe their superhero life wasn't that great at all. And maybe, her new fugitive life wasn't either. She'd need to find something to do before dying of boredom.

She tried to find stuff out about these Hydra people and why they wanted her, but everytime she tried to enter any of the computers in the house, the Vision gently invited her to stop.

"Stark's orders". He said every time.

Around 9 pm, she lost all hope on getting any human contact that night and she turned on the TV. She chose the music channel rather than the news.

But something awoke her sharp ear. A noise, coming from the front door. Was anybody trying to break in? She'd had enough of attempted kidnapings for a lifetime now. This time, she was gonna be in control.

"Shit" someone's voice said through the door. He was a man, and couldn't open the door.

The Vision was strangely away –knowing that it was an all-mighty droid-, so she was alone now. But she knew this was nothing she couldn't handle.

The very moment when the door was opened, she jumped over the misterious man and strongly grabbed him around the neck.

"Who sent you?!" she yelled. "If you're another of the Hydra stupid minions, I have a message for them"

Her victim didn't look like the men that attacked her yesterday at all. Instead, he was in his forties, quite taller and stronger and visibly angry. But Aria was in control… or she _thought so._

The man quickly bent, pushing and sending her directly to the floor with a somersault. She couldn't believe the pain she was feeling.

"What's all this mess?" Tony's voice said from the stairs as he approached the two of them, a glass of wine in his hand.

"Your dates know martial arts now, Tony?" the man said, breathing quickly. She had caught him by surprise and his pulse had rised so much that he could hear his own heart beating. Aria observed him from the ground for the first time, and finally recognised him.

"Yes, they have to send me their curriculums and I don't accept them otherwise." Tony joked. "Welcome back, Clint. It's always a pleasure." He offered his hand and helped him get up.

"I'm surprised you take me in after our little _fight._ Who is she, anyway?"

"The last name on the list we had. We're protecting her now. At least until we know what's going on." Tony explained.

"Yeah, I think she can take care of herself. Sorry for that." And then, Clint helped her get up.

She was too busy realizing that she had tried to strangle the Hawkeye to answer properly.

"She's lost her voice because of your beauty, Clint." Tony said.

"Where did you learn to do that?" he asked her.

"Rough past, I guess." It wasn't really the truth, but it wasn't a lie either.

They stared at her but said nothing.

"Okay. So, where's everyone? I've been out only for a few months and I come here and everything I see is you having a drink." Clint reproached.

"And the Vision. He's doing nothing for the cause."

"But don't you guys have some sort of plan or something?" Aria asked, confused.

"We do, indeed. Friday is still decrypting the alleged algorithm. Natasha is out there tracking the source of the archives. She hacked them from an encrypted account that leaded to another five or six encrypted sites and a few addresses."

"This one's tough." Clint sighed.

"Capi must be inmerse in his melancholic view of the future and the flying guy… honestly, I don't care where he is." Tony continued.

"Are you always like this?" Aria asked the millionare. He was starting to annoy her.

"He trains hard." Clint answered. "You can only give him his own medicine sometimes."

"Sir, I'm done with the file." Friday said, just in time. Another joke and Aria would have left the house.

"And you've found nothing, right?" Tony said.

"Correct. Not only it's protected with Artificial Intelligence, but it has tried to disable my protocoles more than once. Although I defeated it eventually, the file has not any practical use alone. It's impossiblo to unlock or decrypt it without the program that created it." Friday said.

"And that program is in the computer heaven. Or maybe hell. Yeah, possibly hell." Tony said, tired.

Zola's mind had been destroyed a couple of years ago by a missil sent by S.H.I.E.L.D. which aimed at the Black Widow and Captain America. Tons of data were destroyed with it, including the computer processing unit needed to decode the file.

"But Hydra must have another program that can read it, or the algorithm would be useless to them." Clint sharply pointed.

"And that's what Natasha's after." Tony said.

* * *

Steve was running through a park. He could run five times faster than anyone else in the place, so he enjoyed that quality time with himself. He really needed that run. No matter what he did, all his efforts were in vain when it came to Hydra. They were always back, and they had already ruined his life once: he didn't want to give them another chance.

But breathing the city's fresh air managed to calm him down, and when he was done, he headed to the Stark's mansion.

The place looked really expensive from the outside –which he know it was-, even in the darkest of the night. Tony liked his stuff big and pretentious. It was almost midnight and everyone would be sleeping inside, so he took a minute to breathe the last puff of fresh air.

However, a movement caught his eye, something that shouldn't be there that late. He closed his eyes a bit trying to locate the source of the tiny movement he'd seen near the door. Did it mean any danger? He squatted, hiding, and got closer to the front door, but when he heard a voice saying "Ready", it was too late.

There were men surrounding the mansion and in the front door, maybe more than ten, and then there was a big explosion. Steve literally flew and hit the ground really hard, hurting his back. But he had to get up. They were attacking the mansion with his friends inside. And the girl they had to protect. What a poor guard he would be if they took her.

Steve quickly put himself back together and ran to the door. Most of the men were already in, but he took down the two that had stayed to guard the entrance. Although he felt almost naked without his shield, how could he have imagined he would need it?

He got through the smoke of the explosion and couldn't see anything at first, but managed to find the main stairs. He found Clint first.

"Steve. Nice to see you again." He said, taking his bow and arrows and activating the night vision.

"Same, Clint. We have to find the girl before they do." Steve answered.

"Her room is at the end of the hallway."

"Where is the Vision and why isn't it helping us?" Steve said, trying to keep calm between all the mess.

They heard a cry coming from the end of the hallway and they ran.

"Leave me alone!" Aria screamed at the four men who were trying to hold her. It wasn't too dificult for Clint and Steve to take them down.

"Hey, hey. Calm down. You're okay." Steve grabbed Aria and said with a very comforting voice.

"Here, Steve." Clint said, handing him his shield which he'd grabbed from Captain's room.

"Thanks."

They could hear how even more men entered the mansion.

"We have to leave now" Clint said.

"Where's Stark?" Steve asked.

They looked for him, Steve had to stop several bullets in the way, using his shield to protect Aria, who was scared as hell. She'd gone from a regular medical students from the past six years to this, too much to handle. But she felt she had nothing to worry about with these people, specially with Steve basically driving her through the mansion and giving her limited opportunities to move.

"Stark! What the… What are you doing?" Clint and the others were shocked when they saw Tony sitting on his bed staring at the Vision, immobile, and then talking to Friday and programming stuff. He stopped when his friends arrived.

"We have to go!" Steve cried.

"We can't. Not until I fix the Vision." Tony said severely.

"What's wrong with it?"

"I don't know. They turned it off or something like that. It doesn't respond to anything I say, or listen or… anything." Tonny appeared to be about to collapse.

The footsteps of the attackers were getting closer and closer.

"Sir, I found the source of the blocking. It's a complex device whose signal comes from downstairs. One of the men must be carrying it."

"I'll take it." Clint said, running downstairs.

"How is this possible, Stark?" Steve asked. He knew very litte about technology, but seeing the Vision like this made him sick too.

"The device must be disabling every electromagnetic and electronic pulse in the zone. Jarvis' mind is an Artificial Intelligent system susceptible to be blocked by a devie like this. But… I made it very resistent. This must be very complex technology… I'll need to work on a firewall…"

"Done." Clint said. He'd been faster than ever.

"Let's get out of here." Steve sentenced, still holding Aria.

* * *

 **Hi guys! let me know if you're liking it:)**


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